The 500 best books of all time from Culture Café users

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Culture Café, 498 Books

In October 2008, the Culture Café site asked Internet users to vote for their ten favorite books. After collecting 5,000 votes and listing more than 3,000 titles, here are the results of the 500 best chosen by Internet users of the site

Details on the method and classification

- A list of ten books was requested from Internet users, in order of preference of their favorite works (all genres, nationalities, and dates of publication). The votes were anonymous.
- Only the rankings containing the ten titles were counted. The votes containing fewer were automatically deleted by the software.
- The book arriving first in each ranking was awarded ten points, the second nine points, etc.
- The series of novels (Harry Potter, Dune, etc.) have been counted under the generic name of the complete series"

This list was originally published in 2008 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
163 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
14016 Pilgrim Timothy Findley 1999 Canadian English
4574 Papillon Henri Charrière 1969 French French
6632 Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 1996 American English
11997 The Amulet of Samarkand Jonathan Stroud 2003 British English
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
2326 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
6834 For Those I Loved Martin Gray 1971 French French
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
14043 The Character Of Rain Amélie Nothomb 2000 Belgian French
6302 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
892 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
1184 Tristan Gottfried von Strassburg 1210 German Middle high german
1686 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
242 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
50 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
743 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
14376 Q & A Vikas Swarup 2005 Indian English
6193 The Earth Émile Zola 1887 French French
39 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 British English
99 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
1002 2001 Arthur C. Clarke 1968 British English
11375 Big Sur Jack Kerouac 1962 American English
14332 Bye Bye Blondie Virginie Despentes 2004 French French
363 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
14044 L'éducation D'une Fée Didier van Cauwelaert 2000 French French
12784 Flanagan's Run Tom McNab 1982 British English
11205 The Horla Guy de Maupassant 1887 French French
1834 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
13736 Le Passeur De Lumière Bernard Tirtiaux 1993 French French
3444 The Satin Slipper Paul Claudel 1929 French French
699 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
353 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
2177 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
13737 Ocean Sea Alessandro Baricco 1993 Italian Italian
1313 Under Satan's Sun Georges Bernanos 1926 French French
422 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
9890 Women Charles Bukowski 1978 American English
445 Gypsy Ballads Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
2196 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2579 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
13282 Who Will Remember The People... Jean Raspail 1986 French French
313 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
11210 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11211 L'huile Sur Le Feu Hervé Bazin 1954 French French
3105 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
5675 Big Blondes Jean Echenoz 1995 French French
2957 The Erasers Alain Robbe-Grillet 1953 French French
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
3415 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
11378 The Island Robert Merle 1962 French French
65 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
1900 The Physician Noah Gordon 1986 American English
2284 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
434 El Aleph Jorge Luis Borges 1949 Argentinian Spanish
1081 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
4445 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
14001 The Case Of Dr Sachs Martin Winckler 1998 French French
14334 La Ligne Noire Jean-Christophe Grangé 2004 French French
11213 Liberty Or Love! Robert Desnos 1929 French French
1867 Junky William S. Burroughs 1953 American English
1262 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
10992 Jerome Jean-Pierre Martinet 1978 French French
526 The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
112 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957 Russian Russian
1925 Ten Days That Shook the World John Reed 1919 American English
4499 Different Seasons Stephen King 1982 American English
1453 The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1950 American English
2576 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
1828 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
261 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
903 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
1376 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
10068 Assassin's Apprentice Robin Hobb 1995 American English
11543 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
191 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
13739 The Lovers Alice Ferney 1993 French French
2808 La Débâcle Émile Zola 1892 French French
8986 Little Fadette George Sand 1849 French French
645 The Flanders Road Claude Simon 1960 French French
5568 VALIS Philip K. Dick 1981 American English
9146 84, Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 1970 American English
2476 Mangeclous Albert Cohen 1938 French French
1603 Pan Knut Hamsun 1894 Norwegian Norwegian
5653 The Evolution Man Or How I Ate My Father Roy Lewis 1960 British English
9494 A Scanner Darkly Philip K. Dick 1977 American English
954 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 French French
2419 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2046 Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz 1956 Egyptian Arabic
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
1374 The Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima 1965 Japanese Japanese
7559 The Toilers Of The Sea Victor Hugo 1866 French French
927 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
3373 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
2859 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
458 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
11217 The Island Of Slaves Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1725 French French
403 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
3607 The Life Of Marianne Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1731 French French
7815 The Blue Flowers Raymond Queneau 1965 French French
5106 Le Lion Joseph Kessel 1958 French French
2288 My Father's Glory Marcel Pagnol 1957 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
375 War of the Worlds H. G. Wells 1898 British English
2894 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
9709 Gagner La Guerre Jean-Philippe Jaworski 2009 French French
11219 Queen Margot Alexandre Dumas 1845 French French
2024 Nobody's Boy Hector Malot 1878 French French
4974 Sophie's Misfortunes Countess of Ségur. 1858 French French
1043 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1409 No Exit Jean Paul Sartre 1944 French French
11220 The Man Who Walked Through Walls Marcel Aymé 1943 French French
1642 The Nature of Things Francis Ponge 1942 French French
1497 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
105 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
11221 Tiger At The Gates Jean Giraudoux 1935 French French
1602 White Fang Jack London 1906 American English